1. Technical Field
This invention relates to baby bottles and, more particularly, to a collapsible baby bottle for reducing air-intake during feeding operations.
2. Prior Art
As a matter of personal preference or as a matter of convenience, many mothers resort to bottle feeding of their infants for the first years of the child's life. During the 1960's the hard glass bottles that were capped by nipples were gradually replaced by collapsible flexible sacks. The sacks preferably were replaceable mounted in a tubular frame for protection during use. Provision was made for coupling the sacks to the nipples. For sanitary reasons, the sacks were intended to be disposable after a single use.
Collapsible sack nursing bottle assemblies have been advertised as reducing the amount of air ingested into an infant's stomach when the liquid baby food is drawn through the nipple from the nursing bottle. Under certain conditions, the use of collapsible sack nursing bottles can have complications. If only one of two ounces of fluid is has been withdrawn from the sack by the infant, forcing the air out of the sack with finger pressure becomes somewhat difficult. Or, if the feeding of the infant is interrupted and the nursing bottle is laid down for a few moments, there can be a reverse flow of air through the nipple into the fluid sack. Preferably, when the bottle is picked up to resume the feeding, the air in the sack should be evacuated before liquid is drawn through the nipple by the infant. Again, the application of finger pressure to the sack to force any air out becomes somewhat difficult.
Furthermore, product safety in the area of child care is becoming increasingly important in today's society. One area of safety that has received little attention, however, is in the area of nursing bottles. Infants are carrying or holding feeding bottles for a good part of their waking hours and the bottle may become a safety hazard in many situations. A recent improvement has been the development of plastic infant bottles to replace glass bottles because of danger from cuts on broken glass after a bottle has shattered due to a fall. There is another aspect of bottle design, however, that has been overlooked. This is in the rigid structure of the bottle itself. In situations where the child is traveling in a vehicle while feeding from a bottle, the bottle may become a dangerous structure which can cause serious injury to the mouth and facial areas of the child in the event of a crash.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,365,202 to Ida discloses a method of feeding an infant utilizing a nursing bottle, having a resilient shell body with at least one aperture, a flexible liner, and a feeding nipple that utilizes air pressure to expel trapped air from a liner. When the aperture or apertures are covered by the operator's finger or hand, and pressure is applied to the shell body, air trapped in the liner can be expelled prior to feeding the infant. Unfortunately, this prior art example does not provide a collapsible bottle that uses the body of the apparatus, rather than the user hand, to expel air from the liner.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,042,850 to Ida discloses a nursing bottle having a body, a flexible liner, and a feeding nipple. In one embodiment, the body includes a check valve to allow air into a chamber formed between the body and the flexible liner to equalize the pressure in the chamber and prevent air from leaving the chamber. This prevents the liner from expanding and air from reentering the liner. Other embodiments of the nursing bottle include a pump for introducing pressurized air into the chamber and thereby expelling air from the liner. In still other embodiments, the bottle comprises a two-part body in which the parts of the body are slidably and sealably engageable with each other wherein movement of the parts relative to each other pressurizes the air in the chamber and expels air from the liner. Disclosed are also methods of feeding an infant or animal utilizing such nursing bottles. Unfortunately, this prior art example is not collapsible in order to enhance storage capabilities.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,921,426 to Randolph discloses a holder, for use with disposable baby feeding liners, and includes a body having a plurality of walls. The walls form at least one pair of opposed walls that are adapted to be compressed to press against a liner contained within the holder to expel air from the liner. In another embodiment, each wall of at least one pair of opposed walls has a wall portion that is adapted to be compressed to press against the liner. In either embodiment, the bottom of the holder is either opened or is a surface having at least one air vent therethrough. Unfortunately, this prior art example is not collapsible in order to enhance storage capabilities.
Accordingly, the present invention is disclosed in order to overcome the above noted shortcomings. The present invention is convenient and easy to use, lightweight yet durable in design, and designed for reducing air-intake during feeding operations. The collapsible baby bottle is simple to use, inexpensive, disposable and recyclable.